There’s 259 days until we return to Augusta National for the 2027 Masters, but who’s counting, right?
Golf fans will have their fill of high-end competition in between, including the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Presidents Cup, but neither quite gets the juices flowing like a major.
And, boy, will next year’s major lineup be worth the wait, as the U.S. Open heads to Pebble Beach while The Open Championship returns to the Old Course at St. Andrews. (The PGA Championship will be held at PGA Frisco, a purpose-built first-time host that doesn’t quite carry the same prestige).
For now, with the 2026 major season complete, we can only prognosticate on who might be holding the trophy on Sunday evenings across those iconic venues.
Here’s how some key players stack up:
Stock way up
We’ll start at the beginning, with back-to-back Masters champ Rory McIlroy. If the Northern Irishman’s 2025 win was like riding a roller-coaster with a gorilla on your back (excuse the mixed metaphors), then 2026 was just a lovely walk back to Butler Cabin. McIlroy didn’t have his best stuff at Augusta, but it didn’t matter as he did have a clear mind — free of the Grand Slam and major-drought pressure — and the knowledge that he could indeed win The Masters. It would not be all that surprising to see him wear the green jacket again come April.
No one has risen higher than Aaron Rai and Ryan Fox, who stunned the golf world with their victories at the PGA Championship and Open Championship. Both players, who had each won on the PGA Tour previously, showed their mettle in closing out their major with clutch Sunday back nines, and Fox even tied the men's major record with a Saturday 62. This was their year — and it isn’t particularly difficult to see them in the mix at more majors moving forward.
For Wyndham Clark, it was a year of validation as he captured his second U.S. Open, backing his 2023 victory in Los Angeles at the famed Shinnecock Hills. He was trending ahead of his home major, took an early lead and carried it through to the end despite vitriol from the Long Island crowd. Pebble Beach won’t be quite the same test as the brutal Shinnecock, but write Clark and his prodigious game off at your own peril.
Stock up
Every season, there’s a group of players that break out as legit major contenders, wind up without a trophy and have everyone predicting that big victory is sure to come.
This year, the two names who fit that archetype are 29-year-olds Cameron Young and Sam Burns.
Young won The Players Championship — often dubbed the fifth major — and played his way until the final group of Sunday at The Masters alongside McIlroy. Then, after a slight mid-season swoon, he vaulted right back into contention at The Open, where a sterling Sunday 64 left him squarely in the mix until Fox’s walk-off birdie. Young now has five career major top-fours.
Likewise, Burns contended at two majors, missing crucial putts on the 72nd hole at both the U.S. Open and Open Championship. Combine that with a Masters top-10, and it adds up to a year of heartbreak. Burns, who also held a Sunday lead at the U.S. Open last year, is generally considered among the best putters in the world — but hasn’t quite hit those heights when it matters most. If he sees a few go down, the floodgates could open.
It's also worth mentioning Chris Gotterup, 27, who burst onto the scene late last season, when a Scottish Open win gave way to a third-place finish at The Open. In his first full major year in 2026, he made all four cuts (one of 14 players to do so), including a top-10 at the PGA. The New Jersey native also has three tour wins this season, setting him up for what could be a strong second go at the major circuit — the Old Course should suit his shot-making game nicely.
Holding neutral
Still the best player in the world, Scottie Scheffler tied Burns for the lowest aggregate major score this year (20-under) yet left empty-handed for the first time since 2023. A trio of top-five finishes at the Masters and both Opens means his Wikipedia page continues to be dotted with yellow, but that he couldn’t get it over the finish line does provide some cause for pause. At The Masters, he opened with a dud. At The Open, he couldn’t buy a putt. And when the wins suddenly stop, doubt begins to creep in — as we saw on Sunday at Birkdale.
Like Scheffler, Xander Schauffele had a chance to add to his multi-major count and made all four cuts. But the American never truly contended to win in what could be a sign of a return to pre-2024 form, when he consistently struggled to close. Another year like this and he could bump down a tier.
Europeans Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood also mostly treaded water — playing well enough in spots to make you think they can pick one off, but never quite emerging even into that Burns-Young tier of contention despite having the form and game to do so. Aberg and Fleetwood face questions about their ability to close out wins, while Fitzpatrick, who has three PGA Tour victories this season, had the most major struggles of the trio, failing to land a top-10.
Stock down
When Jon Rahm bolted for LIV Golf, the biggest question was how the move would affect his major performances. After all, he had just won The Masters and was considered Scheffler’s biggest rival alongside McIlroy. Three years later, we have our answer: across the past 12 majors, Rahm has one top-five, three top-10s and two missed cuts. For a player of his calibre, like his peers, the standard should be to have won at least one major in that span. Still, the Spaniard refuses to admit that the LIV schedule has hurt his major preparation — now, he may not have a choice but to go down with the ship. It doesn’t bode well.
Brooks Koepka jumped that ship in January, returning to the PGA Tour under some sanctions. But while it’s been a decent year on the course for the five-time major champ, he hasn’t finished top 10 at a major since his 2023 PGA win 15 majors ago.
It is also time to give up the Jordan Spieth ghost. At Birkdale, where he won his last major in 2017, the last gasp was that maybe the former wunderkind would rekindle some magic. Nope. He flamed out, missed the cut and was generally an afterthought throughout the season.
Stock way down
This is a one-player tier, and its title could well be disaster. Bryson DeChambeau missed the first three major cuts, then was in contention halfway through The Open when he instead devoted his energy to making a scene over a two-stroke penalty for improving his lie, even threatening to pick up his ball and go home. He sputtered down the stretch, and his future is murkier than any other pro with his LIV contract expiring and his musings about becoming a full-time YouTuber.
Even on the course, DeChambeau’s quirky single-length irons don’t quite seem to fit the uneven lies of Augusta, and his lack of control makes it tough when the wind comes up, like it did at Shinnecock and Sunday of The Open. Love him or hate him — he is nothing if not polarizing, and yes, "performative" — his major run was so bad that it makes us question whether the two-time major champ will ever add No. 3.
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